Councils blew £30m on ineffective health scheme

Thinking back to May 2022, this experience was a 'win' for weight neutral! Although we had to update some of the data* we had shared (once the government had released it in the June) the fact that SW complained really elevated the cause.

A #WeightStigma Doctor, a social impact entrepreneur and a National Ob*sity Forum (historically funded by d!et, surgery and drug companies, and now a defunct charity and business) all walk into an inquiry...

06:00 - The last 30 years of no progress
11:15  - How widespread is weight discrimination?
14:45 - WMS are not evidence based or ethical
17:48 - The £Money spent Apr/Dec2021
26:55 - Weighing kids is problematic
28:00 - Causing more harm than good
30:28 - Nutriri has an idea
33:00 - Duty of Care, what next?

Following the evidence session I posted a short clip on TikTok of Jeremy Hunt asking us about weight discrimination in healthcare...

CW: This short clip lead to some really quite devastating responses about how a weight (mis)focus has lead to poorer health outcomes and even fatality.

The Daily Mail ran the story "Councils blew £30m on health scheme which saw just 220* lose ANY weight, MP's told"

Minister of State for Care at the Department of Health and Social Care's letter to the Health and Social Care Committee, re: Nutriri's evidence during the Inquiry 'Body Image and the impact on physical and mental health':  "I am aware that Helen James, Founder of Nutriri, gave evidence on the Department for Health and Social Care Adult Weight Management Services Grant at this session. I want to bring to your attention that the data quoted by Ms James was inaccurate and would be grateful if it was not used to make comparisons or draw conclusions. This evidence was subsequently picked up by the Daily Mail resulting in an article with the misleading headline “Councils blew £30m on health scheme that saw just 220* people lose ANY weight, MPs told” This led Slimming World to contact us to voice concerns that inaccurate reporting of said data could have damaging repercussions for weight management providers." (read that letter in full here)

*220 and Updating That Number

On the day of the evidence session only Q1-3 figures were available from OHID, following the session - and subsequent data wrangling between old and new funding and reporting - we settled on 1101 people reporting 5% weight loss for £30.5m spend. You can read more of the complex narrative HERE.

How do you feel reading this event revisit?... let us know in the comments

You can read more about VCSE Nutriri's service co-design work with workforce HERE and citizens HERE.